China’s Tianwen 2 Probe Snaps Striking Views of Earth and Moon While En Route to Asteroid

China's Tianwen 2 probe, en route to collect samples from a near-Earth asteroid, has captured striking images of Earth and the moon shortly after launch. The snapshots, taken using the spacecraft's narrow field of view navigation sensor, show our planet and its natural satellite as viewed from approximately 590,000 kilometers away. Launched aboard a Long March 3B rocket from Xichang on May 28, the spacecraft is now on a multi-year journey to the small asteroid Kamo'oalewa, one of Earth's known quasi moons, where it will conduct scientific surveys and sample collection.

Tianwen 2 Probe Sends Images from Deep Space, Prepares for Asteroid Sample Return and Beyond

According to a July 1 statement from the China National Space Administration (CNSA), the Earth photo was also taken on May 30, while the moon was photographed a few hours later from approximately the same position. Tianwen 2 had been in orbit around Earth for more than a month and had already traveled more than 12 million kilometers by then. Officials have reportedly assured that the spacecraft is now in stable condition. The CNSA also shared an earlier picture of the probe's circular solar array, also taken by an onboard engineering camera, showing the spacecraft from an angle that is seldom seen in flight.

China's first asteroid sample-return mission, the 2nd in the Tianwen series, will reach Kamo'oalewa in July 2026. The probe will map the asteroid, collect samples, and carry them back to Earth in a capsule by late 2027, helping researchers learn more about the origins of planets and the history of the solar system.

It's the undisturbed ingredients in the asteroid that make it so valuable, according to Han Siyuan, a deputy director at CNSA's Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Centre, and it likely still carries original information from the birth of the solar system, he mentioned.

China's solar system program now has Earth's gravity to use as a slingshot as it aims toward a chance encounter with 311P/PANSTARRS in 2035, marking another advance for China's deep-space exploration capability after the successful orbit of Mars, achieved with Tianwen 1 in 2020.